Alone
Chapter 160
Alone
Try deflecting the shot with biotics. 49%
With only a few precious seconds left Fluttershy threw up a biotic barrier, slanting it so the projectile from the cannon would be deflected to the wall instead of straight in their faces.
That is if it's even a projectile, an energy weapon would royally suck right now...
Any more time to deliberate Fluttershy wouldn't get as with an earsplitting crack the cannon fired off it's payload. The strain on the shield was enormous as the projectile only barely changed course, but just enough to hit the wall, making it pulverise and explode from the seer kinetic impact.
Gilda and Fluttershy were both thrown back violently, the griffin getting off the best as she was already tightly curled into a ball but the pegasus had no such luck. Shy crashed into the side of the cave like a ragdol, energy reserves in the gutter and mind reeling in pain as her entire body felt broken. She felt herself being grabbed and dragged along the ground into the base itself, being propped up against a wall limply.
"Fluttershy, are you okay?" Gilda asked while heavily panting, blood from a cut on her forehead staining her feathers.
"No..." Fluttershy replied, grabbing her Black Widow and deploying it before pushing it into Gilda's claws. Darkness crept into her vision as she pulled her thermal clip reserve out as well. "Think of it like a highly accurate crossbow with a lot more kick. Three shots... pull lever to put in new clip... good luck..."
"Wait, what?! Whoa you can't be expecting me to-" Fluttershy didn't hear Gilda finish that sentence as she slumped over into unconsciousness.
Oh, you have to be kidding me! Gilda barely stopped herself from panicking as she held the unfamiliar weapon in her claws with its strange ammunition. Come on you pathetic excuse of a griffin, get your shit together!
Putting away the thermal clips into her saddlebag, Gilda picked Fluttershy's lip form off of the ground, making sure to be careful with the pegasus as she placed her on her own back. The thought of leaving Fluttershy briefly crossed her mind but the memory of what the pegasus had done to Gillis when challenged and her strange magic quickly banished that idea, she'd rather not be on the wrong end of that after she woke up.
Looking back at the massive hole in the wall made her gut twist, thanking the gods above that she got off with such minor injuries. She was definitely not stupid enough to step back into the line of sight of that weapon so the only way on was the hallway leading deeper into the base.
Those red lights totally aren't creepy at all...
Clamping the weapon under a wing, Gilda walked deeper into the facility. Her unease was not helped by the unmarked corridors and rows of locked doors she passed as she walked deeper. "Hey, anyone in here?" she called out in some vain hope that she'd get a response...
...She got one in the form of a floating metal box with a miniature version of the weapon that she'd seen at the entrance.
Oh Tartarus.
In a smooth motion she grabbed Fluttershy's weapon and pointed it at the machine. The telescope on top automatically zoomed out to a less ridiculous degree, letting Gilda place the red cross in it over the floating box.
CRACK!
Gilda was wholly unprepared for the immense recoil the rifle would have and the noise it would make, toppling her over and sending her and Fluttershy to the ground. Grimmacing, Gilda hoped the pegasus wouldn't have too bad a headache from getting dropped like that. "Sweet lord..." she gasped as she saw what remained of the metal machine. It was nearly completely shorn in half and a hole penetrated straight through it.
Trying to steady herself she placed a claw on the wall next to a door, a beep sounding from the wall as the previously solidly locked doors slid open. Gilda immediately prepared herself in case more of the machines would appear but none did. Just to be sure she held her breath and listened carefully for any sounds before carefully deciding to peek into one of them.
The inside of the room wasn't all that grandiose, a few items scattered about but nothing much of interest except for strange devices laying on some low metal tables.
I wonder what these are... picking up one of the little things made it instantly light up, Gilda out of surprise tossed the little thing right back where it came from. "What the fuck?"
Her curiosity was piqued as she didn't feel any adverse effects from having touched the device, reaching forward and picking it up again. A blue field of light sprung from the device in form of a half-ring, not completely unlike the orange field of light she'd seen around Fluttershy's foreleg, and large enough to fit around her head. Something she of course tested as she tried taking a closer look at the little symbols flashing over the field of light...
In another of the numerous surprises of that day the metal thing jumped from her claws and attached itself to the side of her head. Fluttershy's rifle clattered to the ground as Gilda tried pulling the device away from her head but failed miserably as the metal had seemingly embedded itself against her skull. Coldness spreading outwards from where it had connected to her head.
Nonononono, what is it doing! Get off you stupid thing!
The blue screen flashed, becoming transparent and showing some basic information in a language she could actually read. Some of the objects in the room being tagged by the device before a warning message popped up.
"No indoctrination detected. Please remain in the room and contact the security office to get yourself registered."
"Wait, what? Who the hell are you?!" Gilda exclaimed looking around to find the source of the voice.
"I am this interface's virtual intelligence, what is your inquiry?" Gilda stopped looking around, realising fairly quickly where the voice had come from.
"You're inside if that box?" She asked in awe.
"I am this interface's virtual intell-
"Yeah I get it, shut up," Gilda grumbled as the voice repeated the same message, it was clearly not that smart. "Wait, what did you mean by contact the security office?"
"You are not registered in the security database. Security drones will identify you as a threat and attempt to remove you."
Gilda though this through for a moment. "Can you show me where this office is?" Gilda jumped in surprise again as a transparent three dimensional map jumped up in front of her eyes, a room a few floors down blinking red. I think I'm starting to understand why Fluttershy was so adamant on getting in here, if there's more stuff like this in here...
"Can you lead me down there as well?" Gilda asked, picking Shy's rifle back up. The device scanned the weapon, connected to it, and started showing a red line coming straight out of the barrel to predict where it's projectile would go.
"It is inadvisable to traverse the Facility. Contact the security-"
"Pretty sure no-one's there to answer, you can lead me there or I'm using your map to go there on my own," Gilda interrupted the virtual intelligence, walking back out into the hallway where Fluttershy still lay unconscious. "Crap... Hey, if I leave her here will those drone things get her?"
"Pegasus mental status unknown. Potential threats will be removed."
"I'll take that as a yes then," Gilda grumbled, picking Fluttershy up onto her back again. "Alright lead the way."
A blue line appeared on the ground to show where gilda was supposed to go, Gilda along with her decently heavy passenger following down the hallway to a central room. Metal support columns were present near the walls of the room while the centre had a more raised platform. Two drones there sprung to life and focussed themselves on the newcomers but this time Gilda was prepared, doubly so with her new aiming aid.
The first drone she only glanced but that was enough for the devastating shot to blow part of it off, the second one got luckier as Gilda's shot went wide. A red warning flashed on her screen as the rifle refused to fire again. Crap, she did say just three shots.
The drone though wasn't going to allow her to just reload in peace, it's cannon lighting up and forcing Gilda to jump for cover behind a pillar. Fluttershy once again was thrown off like a ragdoll, faceplanting in the open as the shot from the drone missed her by a hair's length.
"Crap, crap crap..." Gilda continued cursing as she pulled on the handle Fluttershy had pointed out to eject the cartridge and got a new one from the ones she'd stashed away. Another round from the drone was sent off, this one hitting its mark only to be stopped by a shimmering shield. She's going to hate me so much when she wakes up, isn't she?
Taking aim once again, Gilda lined up her shot more carefully before depressing the trigger and nailing the machine out of the air. "Take that!" she laughed as the thing crashed into the ground, quickly checking to see how Fluttershy was doing though not finding her too much worse than she already was.
That shield thing she had was awfully useful, I don't think I'd take it too well if I got hit by one of those shots... What if I...
1. Use Fluttershy as bait for future drones.
2. Leave Fluttershy in cover next time drones appear.
Good job keeping Gilda alive! 
On a more personal note, I just passed the Army's heaviest minimum basis fitness test with flying colours. That qualifies me to apply for Airborne or Special Operations. 
Marines too technically but that ain't for me to say the least.
[Paragon] or [Renegade] are colored when available, though normal options might also contribute to one or the other. As for the shippers under us, [Romance] is now also a thing.
When an option is not available due to various reasons it will be coloured [Grey]
https://www.strawpoll.me/37858986
[Certainty: 70]
Remember that comments are like authors' food, we gain energy from them. Constructive criticism is welcome.
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Wait, wtf? You mean Gilda could have died if we picked the wrong option?
10549652
That's XCOM, baby!
...
I mean, Mass Effect has a history with killing off NPCs if you pick the wrong options, so that tracks.
10549652
Not immediately of course but Mass Effect 3 is open season for me.
Come on people, this is Gilda we’re talking about! Using an unconscious friend as bait is totally in her character!
Please let Gilda live! Fluttershy too!
10549678
I mean, I voted for the option. It would be a blast to write.
Of course attempting to deflect the massively powerful cannon with biotics would go badly, why an I the only person who realized this! It blew other griffins to tiny bits, and annihilated most of the cave itself and you chose to try and deflect it instead of dodging? A bad author would’ve killed fluttershy for that.
Also leaving fluttershy as bait is another great way of getting her killed, but at least that vote isn’t going to win.
10549743
Well, 1 there was no guarantee that destroy would work any better depending on what method Shy used 2 it's not like she had time to open the door while a cannon was pointed at her and 3 you can't really use those past griffins as an accurate baseline for what would happen as their training and equipment would fit in medieval Europe. Not to mention they had no reason to think griffins could use 'magic's biotics.
"Heaviest minimum basis?" I should think if that means what I think it does, you really want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane? That might make a substantial hole when it hits.
Otherwise, I can't see her using Fluttershy as a shield. She has no idea what the strength or lifespan of the shield is. If she risks her life that way, she'll almost certainly get shot, and possibly killed. And while Gilda can be a real jerk when she wants to be, she's not Storm King levels of jerk-ass. Heck, I'd even say Tempest Shadow isn't that level of jerk-ass, although she really pushes the limit in the movie.
10549671
True. But in ME, once you understand the dynamics, it's actually pretty easy to avoid the team kill option.
1) Earn their initial trust
2) Earn their personal loyalty. This usually involves a character-centric personal mission.
3) Pick mission assignments that play to people's strengths. (ie: Pick Samara for the biotic mission, or Tali for the tech-based mission.)
As for getting totaled by the cannon blast, that was a no-good-solution event. They're boxed in and can't get away from a second shot. They have two choices, really. Open the door, or use the cannon shot. If they fail the roll with the omnitool, they both die. If they succeed in using the shot, they possibly open options.
As for the cannon shot working, it's plausible. It's an established fact that every successive cycle uses the same technology. The Reapers intentionally seed the Relays as an example of older, more primitive technology than what they use. This is both so that evolving societies use that tech, slowly shifting whatever they invented to use the stuff everyone else uses, and to guide future development so that there are no technological surprises.
So, the cannon was almost certainly based on the same technology as her own. A cannon shot was probably an ME propelled shell. As for surviving a hit, if you assume the turret is similar to a Geth turret in ME1, you can take a hit from a turret in ME1 and still survive. It's undoubtedly not pleasant, but the precedent is already established. So yes they survived. But now the rest is on Gilda.
How do you pump these chapters out so fast mate?
Wonderful as always!
10549928
Being bored helps and when inspiration hits writing becomes real easy. Tomorrow and Friday will probably be a small break since I'm on base rn
I think you meant cut. Unless Breezies are living in her feathers of course.
10549961
When typing fast I have the bad habit of sometimes swapping out letters with ones that are placed on completely the other end of my keyboard xD
Most of the time my correction program catches them but some get through.
So far, so good.. I hadnt realsied that the cannons total reload time was taken up with the transition and rotation, so I thought they had seconds more.
Whatever the device is thats picked Gilda, its a pity it cant act as a hall pass, taking her under observation to be processed by a more senior VI.
I take it the security drones have thermal sensors as well as video to pick up targets, but dont bother with state of target discrimination beyond, Exists, not exists, instead of, Unconcious, not a threat?
I thought at first the option was leave Fluttershy in the open, which means having her shield be ground till it fails, or hiding her in the room, storage locker etc, but Gilda dont know to hide thermal signature round corners? which means take Shy with her and drop roll and target while Shy is aimed at until sparklies stop appearing then hide her?
I say Option 1, as splitting the enemies targeting improves combat chances. Especially if the dummy is somewhat still slightly protected for a while.
That, and Shy would be getting less bounced around if shot at only half the time?
10549910
I said "NPCs", not Party Members. Completely different situation.
Well...that backfired just enough to take Flutters out of commission; good thing Garrus isn't around to witness this...or Rainbow.
...I'd like to think she'll just lord it over your head like earlier when you were trying to avoid coming here in the first place. Fear SassyShy, Gilda. Fear her.
Orrrrr...you can further risk her life. That's an option too.
10549951
Know it is appreciated. Stay safe out there!
10550051
I suspect the device she's got is a Focus, from Horizon: Zero Dawn. Although hers seems to have a lot more AI support than the one we have in the game.
10550738
I may have binged H:ZD a few weeks back. Of course I'm going to pull inspiration from that. :P
10550831
First of all, you are entitled to that opinion, just as I am entitled to my own.
Second, until a certain point, the story was just full-up Fluttershy as the main character with supporting characters given interludes when it's relevant. Then at the mass effect 1 - mass effect 2 border, she becomes a side character as the main character starts switching around. This would be about like if the actual Mass Effect 2 game didn't let you play as Shepherd, and instead just switched between the supporting cast from time to time.
Third, I got into this for 'Fluttershy in Mass Effect' not 'Mass Effect with Fluttershy'.
The story is well written and I enjoyed it, but it became less and less interesting to me because I simply didn't care about the individual or individuals the perspective kept switching to.
10551117
A completely valid point of view. I'll just point out that the reason Shepard has all those side-quests with other people is because if the story stayed solely from two or three people's points of view throughout the game, it would feel a lot less satisfying. You'd have lots of "but what are they doing?" Or "Who are those people?" But the game just barrels past them and are soon forgotten.
I think if the game kept to that model, it would be less interesting. In the game, you could walk over to other people and listen to dialogue. But in a written story, it's more linear. So you have to convey information another way. The switching between points of view in the story accomplish the same thing. They allow the author to show important events happening around the main character, with the viewpoint switching back to her to touch base and get her actions and reactions to events. But if everything is just happening around and to her, with little or no explanation, it would just feel less fulfilling.
My two cents' worth, in any case.
Yeah, Gilda use Flutters as bait, go wild.
Did you just give Gilda a Focus?
limp
of
1. Gilda has nothing and is a glass canon.
Fluttershy shields and armor hopefully tank the hits...
10549652
Welcome to Mass Effect where you'r choice makes a seriouse impact.
10552547
What could possible go right
10549671
Good times... X-Com Interceptor, into the Deep, 1&2 + Chimera squad
10549672
I like to order 1 fried chicken please with double salt.
10549678
Really? Because i see her use Fluttershy shield because the moment she is dead Fluttershy is next...
10549737
*evil laugher*
10549743
She can defect 1-2 shots, while Gilda is instant fast food...
10549899
Good points, still Fluttershy can take a hit or three. Shield and armor...
10550051
That is what i hope for.
10551940
I use the same tool in my storys. It's funny how the situation can be the same but the different background of a character changes everything...
The least preferred but most likely option to keep them alive is 1.
Fluttershy has kinetic shield, armor, medical gel life support.
Gilda has nothing.
Better a grumpy Shy than both being dead.